


it has occurred to me that i am the very first to have had my sweet heart broken!

by tourn_esol



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, and hyuck is emotional, awkward dialogue, idk how else to describe it, other than mark is a big dumbass, this reminds me of a shakespeare play honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:08:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21870580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tourn_esol/pseuds/tourn_esol
Summary: “Wait!” Again, the classic grab-the-wrist move he pulled earlier, hoping it would work again. His heart was racing, he felt like he was in a drama. “Donghyuck,” Mark gazed fondly at the boy in front of him. There were stars in his eyes. “you’re really pretty, you know that?” A small smile overcame the aforementioned boy’s face. He leaned forward and, Mark, assuming he was going in for a kiss, puckered up, but he felt him go past his lips and right next to his ear.“Keep my fucking name out of your mouth.”
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 4
Kudos: 125





	it has occurred to me that i am the very first to have had my sweet heart broken!

**Author's Note:**

> sup.
> 
> so first of all i'd like to preface this by saying this is me forcing myself to write through a writer's block bc writer's block is awful and stinky and i really need to kickstart my writing juice again
> 
> title and my last work's title are inspired from my absolute favorite artist @/filthyratbag on ig, please go follow her she's the best.
> 
> that's all. AGAIN this is not...the best and its not beta'd or even proofread at all but i wanted to WRITE and get something out and overcome this writer's block so hehe, enjoy

While many preferred the silence of the library, the sound of the coffee machines whirring and the microwaves being turned on to warm up pastries comforted him for some reason. Oh, also the cute chestnut-haired boy that started working there a few weeks ago.

The café was one of the most central monuments of the campus. The school boasted about their 24-hour coffee shop on every part of their website, every billboard, every nook and cranny of advertisement they could find. It was almost an innovation, and a welcome addition to a college campus, especially for Mark Lee’s caffeine-dependent body.

He wasn’t a regular. It was only when he knew he had a long night of studying ahead of him when we he would show up at the place and stay until three or four in the morning, then order a hot cup of tea to keep him warm on the walk back to his dorm. But three weeks ago he ran into a boy at the register he’d never seen before whose name tag read “Donghyuck”, and who shared his tired eyes, but he was always cheerful, even when he was taking Mark’s order at 3:30am. He instantly felt a connection.

And it was after a few days where he learned he usually worked four nights a week and it was then that he only showed up to study four nights a week. And it was after a few nights a week that his quick glances at the barista between writing notes turned into scribbling because he couldn’t focus on his notes anymore and then into awkward staring.

“Mark, right?”

“Huh?” He didn’t know why but he felt like he’d just been caught red-handed, hand paused at his waist as he was reaching to pull out his wallet. They just stared at each other.

“Your name...it’s Mark.”

“Ah,” Of course, it had been weeks. He’s basically a regular at this point. They know each other. “And you’re…” He strains his eyes to look at his nametag, as if he hadn’t seen his name before. “Donghyuck?”

“Yea…” The other boy responds, slightly befuddled. He takes his attention away from the barista to pull out his wallet and, upon doing so, his student I.D. drops out of his jean pocket.

“Oh, oops, haha,” He bends down to retrieve it and hits his head on the counter with a loud bonk. “Ouch.” He crouches down and sheepishly rubs his head.

“Jesus, are you okay? That sounded bad.”

“Yeah, just a little bump, haha, I’m clumsy.” He never in his life would’ve described himself as clumsy, up until this point at least. He stood up straight again and it was like gasping for air after being underwater, his face completely red. It felt like Donghyuck was shooting laser beams out of his eyes.

“Cute,”

“What?”   


“I said boot,” Donghyuck flicked his eyes downward toward Mark’s shoes. “Your boots, I like them.”

“Oh, thanks,” A small smile, and there was not a hint of suspicion of a lie going through his brain. “It’s getting cold.”

“Yeah...it’s November…” 

“Yeah…” They both nodded, looking at each other, Mark giving a shy smile one would give when passing a stranger on the sidewalk and Donghyuck returning a customer service smile.

“You can insert your card by the way,”

“Oh yeah, shit, sorry,” He quickly fished his card out of his wallet and slid it into the card reader, the red on his face deepening. “You like...um...working here?” He asked him a question but his eyes were trained on the card reading device, watching the words flash on the screen as if he was taking a memory test and had to recall what it said later on.

“I mean...I get a check.” He looked up.

“Haha,” You could search every laugh track audio file on Earth and still not come up with one that sounded as fabricated as what Mark’s vocal cords just produced. “the world runs on money.”

“Capitalism,” Donghyuck sighs, Gen Z in his voice.

“Yeah, I’m actually a communist.” Mark tests, his eyes shifting to Donghyuck’s. The barista face turns to one of caution.

“Really?”

“Nah just joking.”

“...Okay,” He coughs. “You can take your card out now.” He nods, sliding it out and putting it back in his wallet. Mark was about to concede, announcing his defeat and moved to walk away when to his surprise, the other boy continued. “You take econ right?” He stopped.

“Oh...yeah, how’d you know?”

“You always bring that textbook with you when you’re studying, I’m taking it too.”

“Oh, wow, with Professor Moon?” He nodded. “That’s strange. We must be in different sections then, because I haven’t seen you in my class.”

“Yeah, that final is gonna be a bitch.”

“Sure is, haha, you wanna have a study date sometime, maybe?” And it felt like the Earth stopped rotating, the Sun stopped burning, the black hole at the center of our galaxy stopped sucking. The air weighed heavy on Mark and it suddenly grew very hot in the café.

“Uh…”  _ Sweltering. _ “Well I—”

“Maybedatewasapoorchoiceofwordshahasorryididntmeanitlikeromanticallyiactuallyhaveagirlfriend—”

“Oh,” The galaxy was paused in time again. What did he just say? “Yea, of course…” Donghyuck turned away, his head down slightly. “Girlfriend…”

“Huh?”

“What? Nothing. See you then…” He paused, struggling to put on his customer service smile again. “Buddy.” The barista gave him a thumbs up.

-

“Mark, I think you may actually be the dumbest person I’ve ever met.”

“Renjun, I—”

“No, I mean it.” Renjun was sprawled on Mark’s bed, throwing a baseball up into the air and catching it right before it would land on his face. Mark was sat on his computer chair, rolling between his desk, his bed, Renjun’s bed, and the door. This was the common setup you could expect if you were to walk into Mark and Renjun’s dorm at any point during the evening.

“Hear me out…”

“No, you already explained everything, let me say what I say to say.” He caught the ball and turned so that he was laying on his belly, baseball imprisoned under his chin. “You’ve been talking about this Donghyuck guy for weeks now and the first time you actually talk to him...you  _ absolutely _ blow it saying that you have a girlfriend because you were  _ so _ nervous that you—”

“It was a  _ mistake _ —”

“A grave one, this may cost you dearly.”

“You make it sound like I’m about to die.” Renjun purses his lips and gives him a suggestive look. “Aight...anyway—”

“You not only indicate to him that you’re taken, but that you’re straight. A double whammy.”

“I came to you for guidance, our study date is in an hour and—”

“Oh you mean the one that’s not romantic?” Mark grumbled, pushing off the leg of his bed and barreling straight into the side of Renjun’s, the force of the impact knocking a Moomin plushie off the edge. “And now you’re exhibiting aggressive behavior—”

“Okay psychology major fuck you first of all,”

“See what I mean—”

“Second of all fuck you, third of all I’ll figure out  _ myself _ what to do,” He stands and sends his chair rolling back toward his desk. “Fourth of all, good night!” He walks to the door, opens it, sends Renjun a mean look, and slams it.

“It’s six pm.”

-

Muffled whines emanate from the mass of blankets and pillows that crowd the corner of the dorm room, a pink haired boy snuggled up to whatever is lurking underneath it. Suddenly, the door bursts open and a frazzled rocket of pure concern and worry ricocheted into the dorm room.

“Where is it?”

“Where’s what?”

“The baby, the baby who you said got hurt,” The blankets shifted and revealed a weeping Donghyuck.

“It’s me, I’m the baby,” He choked out in between sobs, crashing into his pink-haired friend’s side to further sob into his shoulder.

“Donghyuck, what did we say about calling yourself baby?” He set his bag down, closed the door, and walked over to the pair, sitting down beside them.

“But Jisung...my heart is broken,” He could barely choke out, tears ran down his cheeks like rivers. Jisung directed his eyes toward the other.

“Jaemin…” Jaemin sighed, his shoulder almost soaked now, was visibly computing what to say in his head. He’s a veteran at this, he’s used to consoling the emotional mess that his roommate was; whether it was a low exam score, or a boy, or a bag of chips getting stuck in the vending machine, or a boy; he’s been through it all.

“Hyuckie…baby…” He pulled out his deep, sultry voice that he would often use to flirt. It has proved successful in talking to his roommate in the past. “There are other guys out there...remember Jeno? The guy who had a crush on you freshman year?”

“Fuck Jeno.”

“Yea...I’m trying,”

“Gross,” Input from Jisung.

“But that’s not the point. Obviously there are guys out there for you, you just haven’t found one yet.” His crying ceased for a little bit as he let the words absorb into his being.

“But I want one now,” He whimpered, puppy-dog eyes looking up at Jaemin in yearning.

“Aww, wait, maybe he is baby,”

“Hyuckie, what do I have to do to get you to go on this study date?” He laid his head on his shoulder, looking at the floor and tracing circles onto Jaemin’s knee. “Find me a boyfriend by the time I get back.”

“Done.” Jisung perked up.

“Done?”

“Done.” Jaemin winked at the younger, Jisung could sense the bad mojo he was conjuring in his brain from where he sat. He didn’t like whatever idea he had, and he didn’t like that he knew he was going to rope him into his plan.

“Really?” Donghyuck looked up at him expectantly.

“Yes, really.”

-

Mark had an absolutely foolproof plan. He had to set everything straight. Or, gay. To make it clear that he was...gay. Not straight. He would win him over by making it obvious he was into him.

Why not just tell him directly, you may be thinking. Well, Mark hadn’t really considered that.

He entered the library, making his way over to the part where he said he would be waiting. Toward the back near the physics books at one of the tables for two, Donghyuck was leaning back in his chair, braced by the wall behind him, tapping furiously on his cell phone.

“Hey!”

“Oh, hey,” He was met with a remarkable unenthusiasm as he plopped down into the seat across from his study partner. He continued to tap something into his phone and Mark sat there, backpack sitting on his lap and feeling awkward at the situation he’s found himself in.

“Um, I have this, for you,” Donghyuck lifted his eyes from his phone for the first time as Mark rummaged in his bag and eventually brandished a chocolate bar.

“Oh…”

“You like chocolate, right?” It was a frighteningly accurate observation as the two had never conversed about their likes and dislikes, and had never talked before outside of ordering teas. In reality, it was one of many quirks Mark noticed behind his economics textbook; he watched as right before clocking out for break, the boy would habitually reveal a chocolate bar from his apron and bite into it.

“Th-thanks,” And it was his favorite type too, coconut. Donghyuck’s eyes were shifty, as if trying to analyze the other boy. “Let’s get started, I guess.”

They worked in a spectacularly tense silence. Mark writing things down in his notebook without really absorbing anything, and sparing glances at the other who he was certain wasn’t giving him any attention. Speaking of, he wasn’t giving his textbook any attention either; his phone seemed to be blowing him. He wondered what he was texting about.

“Yeah, I’m done here,” To Mark’s surprise, he started packing up his stuff.

“What?”

“Uh...I have a situation,” Again, Mark eats this shit up, not detecting that anything is amiss.

_ ‘Shit, what now. I didn’t even have a chance to tell him....’ _

Right as Donghyuck picks up his bag and turns to leave, Mark speaks up.

“Let me walk you back to your dorm,” The other furrows his eyebrows.

“No it’s fine I really don’t think that’s necessary—”

“It’s dark out, I don’t want you to walk alone—”

“That’s  _ very _ sweet of you but I’m fine—” A hand clasps around his wrist and he didn’t expect to look at Mark’s face and be met with such sincerity.

“Please.” And he didn’t know why he was letting a straight boy make him swoon like this, but he acquiesced.

And Mark was starting to rethink his decision as he trailed behind the younger, almost protectively, trying to figure out how to approach the situation before saying anything. There’s a very limited amount of time, as Donghyuck’s dorm is relatively close to the library. 

“Hey, Hyuck,” He felt an electric shock course through his body at hearing the nickname.

“Call me Donghyuck, please.”

“Oh, sorry,” Mark cleared his throat. Fuck, he already tripped up. This isn’t going well. Why does he talk? Who allows him to talk? It never goes well. “Are you doing anything this weekend?” Donghyuck looks back at him, then forward again.

“Studying, I’m busy.” Mark hums in agreement.

“Well, I’m having a little get-together at my place and I wanted to invite you, you know, you can come over if you want.” There was no get-together planned, he was talking out of his ass.

“Oh, nah I’m good, I don’t like to get out much.” Mark huffed, plan A has failed. “Plus I wouldn’t wanna disturb anything you and your girlfriend wanted to do.” Yikes, that again. 

At this he completely deflated. What now? Renjun was telling him to just be forward and say that he lied about the girlfriend, but does he really want to peg himself as a liar now? He can’t lead Donghyuck into thinking that, but he also won’t get anything out of him if he stills thinks that he’s in a relationship,  _ and  _ straight…

“Here.” Donghyuck stopped in front of the towering building, one of the biggest dorms on campus.

“Ah…”

“Well, bye!”

“Wait!” Again, the classic grab-the-wrist move he pulled earlier, hoping it would work again. His heart was racing, he felt like he was in a drama. “Donghyuck,” Mark gazed fondly at the boy in front of him. There were stars in his eyes. “you’re really pretty, you know that?” A small smile overcame the aforementioned boy’s face. He leaned forward and, Mark, assuming he was going in for a kiss, puckered up, but he felt him go past his lips and right next to his ear.

“Keep my fucking name out of your mouth.” He quickly broke off from the older and ducked into the building.

-

“He called me pretty!” Donghyuck, the poor boy, wailed into his pillow, balled up into a fetal position on his bed. Jaemin, forever the supportive and comforting best friend, sat criss-cross next to him, rubbing his back.

“Ah, that’s tough.” He shot a look to Jisung, sitting on Jaemin’s bed, breaking his gaze from whatever phone game had him so enthralled.

“I just don’t understand why this is happening to me, what did I do? God really decided to make me fall for a straight boy that I didn’t even talk to—and now he’s leading me  _ on _ , calling me pretty and shit, but I’m still not over him—this is sick and twisted.” He continues to soak his pillow, arms wrapped around it and gripping tight as if it were the only thing keeping him from going off the deep end. Jaemin sighed, as if watching one of his children do something idiotic, and looked at Jisung again, as if prompting him to say something. The youngest groaned.

“Come on Hyuckie, it’s not that bad. He probably doesn’t shower anyway.”

“No, you don’t understand! It feels like I’m the first person to have had my sweet, loving, ever-caring, giving, and bountiful heart absolutely  _ broken _ , torn to shreds, trampled on…” His voice grew small, sniffling, body writhing in unrest under Jaemin.

“Hyuckie, you’re so dramatic.”

“All I’m saying is it  _ feels _ like it!” He picks his head up from its burial inside the pillow. “And I’m certainly the first to have gone through heartbreak in this room because both of you seem to just have  _ perfect _ lives and everyone falls for you—”

“That is  _ not  _ true,” Jisung interjects. “Remember when I confessed to the Chenle guy? And then he laughed in my face, called me poor, and walked off?” Jaemin chuckled.

“That was pretty funny.” 

“Shut up.”

“Okay but you could  _ never _ understand how I feel right now in this moment, this absolute agony and grief that I am being put through—” There was a knock at the door. Donghyuck was alarmed, but Jaemin dropped down from the bed and leisurely approached the door and opened it. Mark.

“Why the fuck are  _ you  _ here? You broke my heart!”

There was a small pause.

“Huh?” He looked to Jaemin, who dismissed it.

“Don’t worry about it, come in!” The boy stepped inside, standing near the door awkwardly as Jaemin returned to his position beside Donghyuck.

“What the fuck is going on.” He turned to—who he thought was his best friend—Jaemin, to explain why the straight boy who took his heart and crushed it with a sledge hammer was standing in their dorm room right now.

“Well...I was doing a little bit of texting, talked to a certain Renjun, and figured out what exactly was going on, and so I decided to invite him over.” He motioned to Mark. “Take the floor, Mark.” He stepped forward and Donghyuck latched onto Jaemin, cowering behind him and using him as a human barrier as if Mark was a demon.

“I...Donghyuck, I need to explain myself…” Jisung now fully rejected his phone, laying it to the wayside in order to pay attention to whatever was about to unfold in front of him. “I...lied...to you…”

“Yeah, you were leading me on is what you were doing—”

“I...listen, I don’t have a girlfriend. I never had a girlfriend, I just made it up on the spot back then because I was…” He scratched the back of his head, face suddenly heating up. “I was...nervous…”

“Aww, oh my God that’s so cute,” Jisung cooed. Mark kind of inched his face to look in his direction, having never seen the boy before in his life, and put off by the stranger observing him so closely.

“Who’s this?”   


“Not the point.” The youngest replied.

“Nervous?” Donghyuck muttered, his face was still tear stained.

“Yes, I was nervous. I get...I get really nervous around cute boys…” And at this, even Jaemin had to coo.

“Cute boys?” Donghyuck felt his face heat up, blush not so easily visible on his tan skin but it persevered anyway. He had never suddenly gotten so shy and embarrassed in his life.

“See,  _ you’re _ a cute boy,” Jaemin poked him. Mark walked even closer, now standing right next to the lofted bed, letting his arms lay there and resting his head on them so that he was now on eye level with Donghyuck. 

“So,” He tilted his head, asking. “will you let me take you out on a proper date?” Donghyuck only stared back, thinking, and Mark couldn’t tell what it was. He couldn’t see behind those mysterious eyes. He never could.

“Okay,” And that one word, that one word that softly left his lips and floated through his ears and into his brain to fully compute, made him light up. “but only if it’s not romantically because I actually have a girlfriend—”

“Shut the fuck up.”


End file.
